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Last night I attended a running seminar held at a nearby Lululemon Athletica about running injuries and prevention. The class was led by a physical therapist, and went over the difference between muscles, tendons and ligaments, common runner injuries, and how to treat and prevent injuries from happening. I’m a huge nerd and read and read and read about a topic until I either a) am really comfortable with it, or b) I get bored. So I’ve read a lot about running and injuries… heck, I’ve had enough injuries from my dancing days, I just might have hit each muscle group. I was familiar with a good amount of topics, but there was a good amount thrown in that I wasn’t aware of before.

Shin splints: did you know these aren’t caused by the muscle in your shin, but a muscle deep in the calf called the ‘soleus?’

If the soleus is too tight, it can pull back on the bone and cause pain out front. One way to stretch out the soleus is to do a form of a regular calf stretch, but bending the knee at least 30°.

I’ve done this stretch before this class, not knowing what its real purpose was, and thought it was stupid. I couldn’t feel a stretching in my calf, so I stopped doing it. But the stretch goes a lot deeper than a regular wall stretch, and I’m pretty sure a tight soleus is one of the causes of my crazy foot pain the other week.

The physical therapist also went over IT band issues. Since mine is acting up a bit, I was all like HOORAY! She did some foam roller demos, as well as a couple standing/floor leaning stretches.

Overall, I enjoyed the class. Many of the attendees were just starting out (after the seminar series is over, the group is starting a running club that’ll build up to a 5K), but the info was useful to beginners and veterans alike. One of the seminar organizers even had some questions, and she was a highly seasoned runner.

So today was my 3.5 mile run. Also, the completion of my second week of training. But the 3.5 is more important. Why? It’s officially the furthest I’ve ever run. I’ve never been able to get past that 3.1 barrier. And I did the 3.5 in 32:11. Yeahhhh. But of course, it can’t just be awesome. My right arch started acting up after the first half mile. I shrugged it off as tightness and my legs being tired. I worked all morning (standing for 5 hours, meh) and already had some soreness in my shin. I stopped for a minute at .75 miles and stretched, then did the same after finishing 2 miles. Once I finished my foot went into full cramp mode. Ugh. I can’t win. I’ve been having muscle cramps in my foot for years, and I’m guessing this is just the end result of leaving it untreated. I made a run over to the Marathon Sports near my house and picked up a Foot Rubz and The Stick. Rollin’ my foot as I type. Go away, pain. You’ve annoyed me enough. I’ve had bad heel/tendon injuries before, so I’m going to do everything I can to make sure this goes away quickly. No plantar faciitis for me, thanks.

Today was my last day at the coffeehouse and I didn’t get to bake anything. Sadface. So of course, I decided to bake something when I got home. I made some Applesauce Almond Butter cookies. The applesauce replaces butter, which makes the cookie SUPER light and very cake-like. Unfortunately, due to the light flavor of almond butter, there isn’t a ton of flavor to the cookie. I’m going to have to play around with spices. I’ll post the recipe, and if you make them and find a magical spice combination, let me know!